Tag: fighting

I’m sorry I haven’t been updating. Part of my problem is that I don’t like typing on my phone, and I’m usually away from the computer when I remember my blog exists. I’ve been home from CIC for about a month now. The spring semester has ended. The summer semester has begun, and I’ve picked up some odd jobs. I have a new routine:

Sunday: SCA fencing (weather permitting)
Monday: Krav
Tuesday: gym after work
Wednesday: Krav
Thursday: walk during my lunch break
Friday: Friday Knight Fights (I’ll explain below)
Saturday: long walk on the beach (weather permitting)

I’m trying to do something active each day, but I’m also varying my level of activity. I know I can’t go hard every single day. I also know that now that I’m teaching Krav instead of practicing, those days aren’t as demanding as they used to be.

The weather has been lousy (or there have been events or holidays), so I haven’t been able to fence much. I think I made it to one fencing practice after CIC, and I spent most of my time doing long sword drills, not sparring. I’ve barely touched my rapier, and I’m not happy about it.

I also got sick last week and couldn’t eat much, making me very weak for a few days. I think that this week is the first time I’ll really get into my routine (only to have it change abruptly for the holiday weekend). 

So now that I’ve gotten the complaining out of the way, let’s talk about the fun part: Friday Knight Fights. Nik and I have acquired a new entertainment job. We now do a “medieval show” that consists of us doing three full contact long sword bouts in armor (tournament style). It’s a lot of fun and very challenging. We still have some issues to work out with our armor (I can’t see out of my helm, for example), but I already love it!

At any rate, assume no news is good news, but I’m going to try to be more diligent in my updates.

CIC – The Return

Now I’m standing at the other side of Civilian Instructor Certification, and I don’t know where to start as I try to describe it. I can’t give you a play-by-play of each day, but I do have some milestones to share.

Day 1 – I met my classmates and the instructor. I was nervous but excited. We began by taking a moment to introduce ourselves to one another before jumping into physical activity. CIC involves a lot of review, but by the end of the day, we were sparring using whatever we knew (not just what we’d re-covered in class). We also did some pretty demanding circuit training. At the end of the day, I felt like I had a handle on what was expected of me, and the next nine days, while daunting, looked attainable.

Day 3 – I felt AWESOME at the end of the day. My body had acclimated to the demands I was putting on it. Waking up early, working out for eight hours, and crashing out at home was becoming the norm. Here are the chronicles of my bruises from Day 2 and Day 3.

Day 2 – inside and outside defense using the arms.

Day 3 – defense against kicks using the legs (with shin guards)

Day 4 – I cried. A lot. Some of it was adrenaline, some was frustration, and some of it was the good old fashioned shock of being punched in the face. Regardless, I got up on Day 5 and went back.

Day 4 – The Crying

Day 5 – The Triumphant Return

Day 7 – After class we all went out to eat together. I’d hung out with some of my classmates at lunchtime or during short breaks, but this was the first time we were all in one place outside of class. I listened to the conversation at the table go from being full of lulls to being full of jokes and laughing.

Day 8 or 9 – Our instructor acquired a drone and used it to film us fighting outside. Words don’t describe how badass it is to be filmed by a drone fighting outside of a warehouse.

Day 10 – Test Day. It was a grind. We tested levels P1-P4 (the P is for practitioner, if you’re playing the home game) and then did various fighting drills (3 on 1 with pads, eyes closed 1 on 1 reaction drills, ground work drills, 4 on 1 defending drills, and 1 on 1 light fighting). We ended with a fitness test (50 squats, 50 pushups, and 50 situps in any order). At one point I was so exhausted I was crying while fighting, and I didn’t even care. I remember fighting with my friend, and while we were hitting each other, we were also saying (through our mouth guards) “You got this. We’re almost there. You’re killing it.” I was the last one to finish the fitness test, and I got up to the sound of my friends cheering me on. I made it.

Day 10 – I passed!

I didn’t score high enough to earn my P4 rank, but I did score high enough to get a P3 rank. I already have my P3, so I didn’t get a new patch or certificate or anything, but it was gratifying to see that I was where I was supposed to be.

After it was all said and done, the instructor took me aside, asked me how I was doing, and told me that I’m on the right track. I have detailed feedback from my test, and I’ll use it to fix my mistakes as I continue my training.

I’m not sure what’s next. There is a CIC Part 2, but I don’t know that I can get the time off or the funds to go in June (plus I don’t think my body is ready). I want to progress, but I’m not sure how. In the meantime, I’m going to keep on keeping on – practicing, teaching, and working out.

Krav last night was spectacular. My favorite part was when one of the instructors pointed out to us that we’ve gotten to the point in our training where other people are watching us to see what to do.

I got punched in the face by a teenaged girl. I don’t recommend it. Her form was excellent.

I also learned an important lesson about gear. It is unwise to wear an underwire sport bra when you practice the “educational stop.” I have a tremendous bruise on my sternum from last night, and we only worked on that skill for about a minute! I’m considering doing a no-contact fencing practice tomorrow if I’m still tender. You may hear about lots of drills and lunges in my next entry.

Other than that, things are going well. I feel like I’m prepared for the P1 test as a student and as a training partner.

Tonight was another all-out Krav practice. I still don’t do so well with what I refer to as “changing planes.” Basically, if my head is alternating between being above and below my heart (like breaking out of a headlock) or if I’m getting up and down a lot (like doing burpees), I tend to have issues with my blood pressure. I’m not passing out, but I do see the static at the edges of my vision. I actually stopped once, but usually I try to fight through. I figure if I’m ever being attacked for real, my assailant won’t hold off on me if I get heady.

Right now I know I need to work on stopping an attack with a punch. My instinct is to block that outside strike, but I really don’t need to. I also need to review my forward kicks to make them more like a knee with a snap (if you do Krav, that makes sense, if you don’t, well… I’m not sure how to clarify).

At any rate, I feel awesome after class, and I’ve dropped 5 lbs since the beginning of the year. I’m assuming I was holding some water weight at that first weigh-in. I haven’t been leaning out hard enough to drop that much weight in 10 days. More importantly, though, I feel strong (except when I’m in armor, but that’s another story!).

Day 27

Tonight I went to my first fencing practice of the new year. It was nice to see my students again. One of them was excited to break in her new sword.

I showed them the around the clock drill I learned from a nice Atlantian man at Castle Wars. The students seemed to dig it. We did a warm up and a couple of drills, and then we did some free sparring.

I stepped aside and did 100 lunges. I thought I was going slowly, but my friend commented on how quickly I did them, so I think I need to slow down some more next time.

I think I pulled a hamstring on Monday. It isn’t serious, but I felt like someone jammed a golf ball in the back of my leg any time I flexed it. I stayed off it on Tuesday and spent pretty much an entire episode of Arrow slowly stretching it out.

Last night I was still sore, but I went to Krav anyway. I  can’t afford to miss practice right before P testing. Also, the muscle seems to like being used. It hurts less today than it did Tuesday or Wednesday.

We’re still working on getting into that mode for testing. At this point, I’m more worried about being a good partner than I am about taking my own test.

Other than that, there isn’t much to report. I have the usual bumps and bruises (including a really inconvenient one on my elbow), but other than that, everything is gravy.

Last night was my return to Krav after two weeks off (except for one fencing practice and practicing my blocks with returning combatives with Nik twice during the break). We didn’t ease back into things, either. We jumped in with full force to get ready for testing. We reviewed, but it was constant repetition with no breaks. We closed class with zombie drills at the end.

Testing is at the end of the month. We’d originally been told that it would be two weeks in, so I’m glad to have more time to prepare. I’m not too thrilled about giving up pasta, booze, and sugar for an extra two weeks, but I’ll be healthier for it, so I won’t complain too much.

All joking aside, it was a good class, and I’m looking forward to Wednesday. This test will be hard, but I’m confident that I can do it.

After the big test (read “In February”), we’ll be resuming the ladies’ class on Thursdays. I’m pretty stoked about that too. I like helping teach but not being in charge of the whole class. It’s a good day to work on technique, even if it’s mostly by watching and seeing which mistakes to be wary of instead of by doing.

In addition to training my ass off in Krav, I’ll be going back to UWF’s fencing practice on Fridays, and (perhaps even more of a big deal) I’ll be resuming regular SCA fighter practice on Sundays (teaching fencing and learning armored combat).

Here’s to fighting five days per week.

Tonight Nik and I spent some time in the studio working on hand to hand combat. I’m working extra hard on my inside defense to get ready for my proficiency test next month. We had a lot of fun trying out different combinations, and I think I’m getting more consistent.

Monday and Wednesday were good training days in Krav. It looks like we’ll be testing in January.

It looks like I’ll have to make a choice: testing falls on an SCA event day. There will be another chance in February, but I have easily twice as many events in February as I do in January.

At any rate, I’ll need to train this month so that I don’t forget the material before the test. Don’t worry. I won’t neglect my fencing.